The Segmentation of Polish One-Person Households Due to Consumption

Abstract

The scientific objective of the study was to identify consumption patterns in one-person households, living independently. The households’ clusters were emerged using Ward’s grouping method. It can be concluded that distinguishing the consumption patterns for one-person households is possible on the basis of diversifying both level and structure of incomes as well as socio-demographic differences between them. Depending on economic and socio-demographic variables, disparate consumption patterns for these types of households can be observed. In addition, it is worth stressing that households have different levels of income (although coming from similar sources) but similar demographic structure show greater similarity than households having similar financial situation. Both the growing number and social significance of one-person households make this research subject useful. This study contributes to understanding differences between consumption in various types of one-person households.